


Bite the Big Apple (Don't Mind the Maggots)

by HYPERFocused



Category: Sports Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-03-23
Updated: 2007-03-23
Packaged: 2017-11-29 02:18:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/681585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HYPERFocused/pseuds/HYPERFocused
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drunken truths. I own neither Sports Night, nor "Shattered", the Rolling Stone song that inspired the title and headers.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Bite the Big Apple (Don't Mind the Maggots)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://60-minute-fics.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://60-minute-fics.livejournal.com/)**60_minute_fics** Shattered challenge. 1000 words, 250 per section.

**Love.**

It finally happened on a Monday night. The product of too many drinks at Anthony's, on top of the painkillers from Casey's earlier dental surgery -- he was a lightweight when it came to the good drugs -- and Dan found himself with one Casey McCall, plastered to him, and more than a little bit plastered.

Dan did his best to be noble, laid Casey out on his bed, and tried to get up, but Casey just rolled toward him, and pulled him back onto the bed.

"C'mon, Danny. There's lotsa room." Casey scooted an infinitesimal bit away, to illustrate the point.

"There's room on the sofa, too. I'll be fine."

"Nah, stay. The bed won't stop spinning."

"And it'll help to have two of us in it?" Much as he wanted to share a bed with Casey, share everything with him, Dan wasn't enthused about the prospect of Casey getting sick on his sheets.

"Of course. You keep me grounded. See? It's not spinning now. Everything's nice and smooooth." Casey sat up, making a sweeping motion with his arm to illustrate the point, then flopped back down again. "Erm... maybe not."

"Stop moving, Casey. It's safer that way." Dan sat carefully on the bed, and began untying Casey's shoes, slipping them off so he wouldn't trip. "Now get some rest. You'll feel better soon."

"You'll stay, though, right?" Casey asked, already sliding into sleep.

"Yeah, Casey. I'll be right here." Dan slipped under the covers beside him, wishing that Casey would allow himself to be this affectionate sober.

**Hope.**

Casey's head was throbbing when he woke up a few hours later, and he had to pee like a racehorse. He crawled out of the bed gingerly, trying not to wake Dan, who was sprawled out beside him, hair sticking up wildly, and drooling.

It was a little bit adorable, something Casey didn't want to think too much about. There were a lot of things he'd been avoiding thinking about where Dan was concerned.

Looking at him now made it difficult to avoid. Casey knew how Dan felt about him. He'd felt it literally, solid and thick through the sweatpants Dan had thrown on. They were worn pretty thin, and Casey could feel the heat through the faded, pilled cotton.

It wasn't that it wouldn't feel good, to do what Dan wanted, to be with him that way. Casey wanted it too, most of the time. It's just that it would change things, and he liked the way things were. It was safer for both of them.

Maybe he could give them both this one chance. If Dan still thought he was drunk, then whatever happened wouldn't have to mean -- whatever it meant. Casey made sure to weave a little when he walked back from the bathroom, draping himself half on top of Dan, reaching around to stroke warm flesh. Dan feigned sleep -- Casey could tell by the way his breath hitched -- and leaned into the touch.

"Love you, Casey," he mumbled. Casey wished he could allow himself to remember.

**Sex.**

The next day at work, Dan felt exposed; raw, like everyone knew. He could almost envision the sign above his head: the words "Casey and I had sex" glowing neon bright and accusatory.

But nobody did say anything, and the day passed as slowly as a soccer game with no goals scored, and teams no one knew.

Dan was just sick and tired of it, finally. Tired of pretending he just wanted to be Casey's friend. Sick of supporting Casey through all of his botched dating experiments, when all he really wanted to do is tell Casey to forget those women. They didn't deserve him. Dan would always belong to Casey, even if Casey never claimed him.

Casey hadn't said anything, but Dan could tell he was feeling as weird about what happened as Dan.. Neither would bring it up. What could he say? "So, was that just a drunk thing?' "Why can't you admit you want me when you're sober, too?" Or the thing he wondered most," What the fuck is wrong with you-- with me?"

But the script flowed like it always did, their perfect patter bounding and rebounding, but meaning nothing real. There were no dropped balls here, except for the cannonball Dan felt pressing in on his chest, that made breathing more of an effort than it had been since just post Sam.

Who could he talk to? Isaac and Dana were clearly out of the question, and Casey, who always had his back, had turned his back on him.

**Dreams.**

Casey _wanted_ to spill it all, this secret they'd kept hidden for as long as he could remember. Long before he got up the drunken nerve to touch Dan in the middle of the night, a move both cowardly -- he'd given them both plausible deniability-- and brave :he _had_ to know Dan wouldn't take it.

He turned on his flirtatious act, trying to charm Natalie, Dana, and Kim, any random woman who happened by,

"What's with the player act?" Dana asked.

"Did you pick up a working girl at Anthony's, and now you're having buyer's remorse? " Kim added.

"You know, there a difference between a 'working girl' and a girl who works," Natalie piped up.

Despite Casey's (rather flimsy) protests to the contrary -- it was better they thought the wrong thing than the right one -- they persisted.

"Seriously, Dan. How could you let him get into to trouble like that. You guys always have each other's backs."

"If you must know, Casey spent the night on my couch, sleeping off pain meds from an emergency root canal."

"It wasn't exactly titillating." Casey protested.

"Not that you'd remember." Dan said. _Or admit_ , he didn't. With that, they'd both had enough, buckling back down to work, all but ignoring each other and anything but the script.

It was going to happen soon, Casey could feel it.

"I wasn't asleep, Casey," Dan said, brushing against him as they headed into wardrobe. Casey couldn't look at him. "And I don't regret it."

"Neither do I," Casey answered, almost too softly to hear.


End file.
